Looking back 25 years (yikes, that's a long time ago), that wasn't such a bold proposal. After all, the PC market was only an inch or two away from the market that Activision was already in. But Levy disagreed with my proposition and almost had me removed from his office by force. He told me, "We're in the cartridge business -- and those machines use floppy disks. Forget it."
So, as you go back to your desk and then try to manipulate that spreadsheet one more time, in order to demonstrate how your widget company is going to make a go of it online, why not try creating a totally different spreadsheet? The new one could show how eight of your smartest people, if armed with capital and with marketing smarts, could build a spritely, profitable, brand-new business right next to your widget division.
Who knows? Maybe the next new-business success story will come out of your cubicle.
Seth Godin (sgodin@fastcompany.com) is the author of Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends, and Friends Into Customers (Simon & Schuster, 1999) and the founder of Yoyodyne Entertainment.
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